‘The Walking Dead' Season 9 Air Date, Spoilers: New Cast Members Revealed as Rick Grimes Bids Farewell

“The Walking Dead” season 9 will soon be back on air, but before that happens, devastating news arrived to the fans during the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con. It was announced that Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) is officially leaving the show.

The actor delivered an emotional speech as he bid farewell to the fans and his co-stars in “TWD.” He explained that he decided to leave in order to be with his family. Lincoln shared that he has been away from home for months at a time due to his filming schedule in Georgia, and this made him miss his family, whom he rarely spends time with.

“But I do have a real family and it is time for me to go home, I’m going to take a break for a while,” he narrated. “But saying that, I have one eye on the script. Norman and Danai secretly send them to me.”

Although this was part of his goodbye speech, Express noted that the actor may still return as he said that he will just be “taking a break for a while.” The publication also pointed out that Andrew Lincoln still has the scripts so it could mean that he will still return to work sometime in the future.

Now, with his exit being confirmed, fans wonder how Rick Grimes would be killed off in “The Walking Dead” season 9. Or perhaps the writers prepared other ways for him to disappear from the show. Certainly, the answer will be revealed when the series resumes.

Danai Gurira (Michonne) said that they will feel the void when Rick leaves. Speaking at "The Walking Dead" panel, she said, as quoted by Entertainment Weekly, “There’s no replacing him, there’s no just getting over it. We’re in very clear emotional synchronicity with our characters right now, because the loss is felt by them and by us.”

Meanwhile, as Andre Lincoln departs from the set of “The Walking Dead” season 9, many new characters are going to be introduced. Nadia Hilker has been recruited to play Magna, while Lauren Ridloff signed up to take the role as Connie. Eleanor Matsuura is also a new addition to group and will play Yumiko.

Other new cast members are Angel Theory (Kelly), Zach McGowan (Justin), Rhys Coiro (Jed), Brett Butler (Tammy Rose) and John Finn (Tammy’s husband named Earl).